A new code has been added to the Northern Ireland Beef & Lamb Farm Quality Assurance Scheme (FQAS) standards and rules, to encourage scheme participants to improve farm safety.

“The producer will understand the need to ensure that all avoidable hazards (for both livestock and humans) are eliminated,” the new code states.

Scheme participants must sign and comply with a list of farm safety considerations outlined at the back of the revised standards and rules booklet.

Most of list is made up of rules that were included in various places in the previous version of the FQAS standard, such as having well-maintained handling facilities, electrical installations that are inaccessible to livestock and securely covered sheep dippers.

However, scheme participants now must show that any pesticides used on the farm have been applied by a person with a Certificate of Competence. If a farmer carries out their own sprayer work and does not use a contractor, the sprayer needs to be certified under the National Sprayer Testing Scheme.

June 2018 start

The revised FQAS standards and rules are dated April 2018 and will replace the April 2014 standards and rules in inspections carried out from 1 June 2018 onwards.

The only other new code added to the booklet is the need to comply with the Campaign for the Responsible Use of Rodenticides. Like sprayer operators holding a Certificate of Competence, this is already a statutory rule for all farmers, but checks have been limited to date. It requires that farmers that set rat poison are trained and accredited in the use of rodenticides from 1 January 2018.

Other changes to the FQAS standards and rules are mainly new recommendations, or else amendments to existing rules. These include a new veterinary medicine record to include the date withdrawal periods end and the reason for treatment and a new animal health plan template to encourage planned activities throughout the year.

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